Armored Confessions
by cypsiman2
Summary: A three chapter story.  Chapter One: Ven misses getting to see Terra and Aqua take off for their first mission, and that night he meets with a mysterious armored woman, and confides in her.  VenQua, Aqua/Ventus
1. Chapter 1

Armored Confessions, Chapter One

* * *

"Can't be late, can't be late, can't be late…" Ventus kept muttering to himself as he ran through the halls of the castle, desperately rushing for the courtyard; of all the days to oversleep, why did it have to be this day, the day when Aqua and Terra were going to be sent on their first missions ever? Sure, he wasn't going to be able to go with them, but he'd be able to see them off, and he'd get to see them in the armor that they'd just earned. "Aqua, Terra, just hold on a few more minutes…" Ven's breath was going ragged as he forced himself to run, even though his legs were burning from exhaustion.

"Ven, slow down!" The commanding authority of Master Eraqus's voice had the desired effect, and Ven stumbled to a stop. "Now what in the world could have possibly compelled you to act so recklessly in these halls?"

"Master Eraqus, I'm sorry, but I need to go see Terra and Aqua before they leave for their mission." Ven said, breath shallow and rapid.

"Oh." At once, Master Eraqus's face grew soft with sympathy. "I'm sorry Ven, but I'm afraid that they just left; if I'd realized that you were on the way to see them, I would have let them stay just a little longer."

"Ah." Ven's expression grew solemn. "That's okay Master Eraqus." Then he put a smile on his face, one that almost reached his ears. "Besides, I'll be sure to be there when they get back, and ask them all about it then." Ven bowed down to his master, and made his way back to his room.

Master Eraqus looked upon his youngest apprentice's dejected form as he walked away, and felt his heart ache for the boy. He wished he could let him go on missions with Terra and Aqua, but if what Xehanort told him was true, he could not let Ven leave the Land of Departure, not now and not ever.

* * *

"I wonder which world you guys are on." Ven said as he gazed up at the stars, each one of them shining with the light of their world's heart. "I'll bet you're on a world where there's lots of people, more people than you could ever fit into the castle." Terra would love a world like that; sure, he'd have to be careful not to be swindled out of everything he had, save his Keyblade, but he'd get to show off his skill and power to so many people. And Aqua, she'd get swamped by so many admirers so quickly, she'd need to beat them off with her Keyblade. Ven paused, he put his hand to his face. "My face is getting really warm." He went over to the pond and splashed some water on his face to cool it down, and was surprised by how red his reflection had become.

"Or maybe they're on a world with lots of monsters." Terra would definitely shine in a place like that; he could be facing a huge, giant monster of a beast, and he'd take it down with one strike. Aqua, meanwhile, would practically be dancing in the middle of a whole horde of monsters, summoning up barriers to knock them away before drowning them with her water magic. Or maybe she would surround herself in fire, and dare them to approach, or she'd put them all to sleep and take them out one by one, or use Zero Gravity and bat them all into one another, letting them take themselves out…Ven was back at the pond, making absolutely sure that his face was cool and pale and not the least bit red.

"Maybe they just need to go find something?" As though his subconscious were toying with him, he saw Aqua standing in a field of flowers, searching for just the right one. It took a while and quite a bit of water to cool himself back down again. "At least nobody else is here…"

And that was when he saw the figure coming down the hill, fully armored from head to toe. Ven was sure that it was a woman, as he rather doubted that a man would need such generous hips in his armor, and Ven jerked his head up as he realized he was staring. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare, I've just never seen anyone like you before, especially in that armor."

Whoever it was in that armor was silent, but as she sat down, there was something about her that seemed inviting to him. "So, where are you from?" Ven asked, seeing if she would tell him. She said nothing; Ven realized that she must have come here in secret, yet somehow that didn't alarm him. Whatever her reasons, she didn't intend to hurt anyone, that much he was sure of, so he wouldn't press her any further. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a little while? I mean, if you have the time, and you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

The armored figure looked into his eyes, and she nodded. "Well, I've got two friends, Terra and Aqua, and they just left for the first time today for a mission, and I overslept and missed my chance to see them off. And they just got their armor, so I really wanted to see them in it, especially since it's going to be a little longer before I get my armor."

He looked at her again, and as he did, he started imagining what it would be like if it were Aqua under that armor, and his face became a bright burning red. He jerked his head away, as he saw the armored woman reaching out to him. "I'm sorry. I just…for some reason, tonight, whenever I think about my friend Aqua, my face gets really red and hot. Have you…have you ever had that happen to you? Just, thinking about a friend, and your face gets so hot you can't even think straight?" The armored figure took some time to think about this, and shook her head.

"Ah. Well, who knows; maybe I'm just missing her, and when she gets back it'll stop happening. Except," with this he furrowed his brow, "I miss Terra too, but I don't miss him as much as I miss Aqua. Do, do you think that makes me a bad friend?"

Suddenly, Ven felt a great weight all over him as the armored figure wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. He guessed that she was assuring him that he wasn't being a bad friend, missing Aqua more than Terra, thinking more about Aqua than Terra, but there was something…familiar…about that embrace. She let go of him, slowly, carefully.

Suddenly, Ven struggled to suppress a yawn. "Sorry, I guess I was more tired then I thought." His sleeping habits must have gotten pretty bad, if this sort of thing kept happening to him. "Do you think we can meet again? Tomorrow?" Right away the armored figure nodded, and then she took off, running to where she could depart without anyone seeing her mode of conveyance.

And so Ventus returned to his room, hopes mixed in his heart and dreams unsettled in his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Armored Confessions, Chapter Two

* * *

"Hey Aqua, something bothering you?" Terra said during the break in their training. "I mean, I almost managed to get you at the end of that last exchange."

"Actually, there kind of is." Aqua said, just a bit pensive. "Last night, when we got back from our mission, I felt bad about how Ven couldn't come with us, so I went looking for him. I found him on the Mountain Path, and I was about to ask him how he was, and he didn't recognize me."

"How could he not…oh." Terra's nodded as the revelation struck him.

"Right, Ven's never seen either of us in our armor before, so he thought I was someone from another world. And…it occurred to me that there might be things that he'd tell a stranger that he wouldn't tell me. So I kept quiet, let him do all the talking, and mostly he talked about how much he missed us."

"That makes sense." Terra said as he nodded along. "We are practically his whole world."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. But, he said that he missed me a lot, more than he missed you, and he worried that that made him a bad friend." Aqua blushed lightly at the memory of it, and how she'd reacted.

"Huh, that sounds pretty rough." Terra stroked his chin in thought. "Do you think I ought to go let Ven know that I don't mind that he has a crush on you?"

"What?" Aqua's blush grew brighter, more intense. "I, why would you say that?"

"Because he does?" Terra said, the look in his eyes conveying his surprise at Aqua's reaction. "Okay, when he talked about you, did he blush at all?"

"Well, yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has a crush on me. He could have just been embarrassed that he was saying all that to a total stranger."

"Right, but you weren't a total stranger. Aqua, when Ven told you all this, what did you do?"

"I," Aqua's blush only grew worse, "I gave him a hug, to let him know he was okay and he didn't need to worry that he was a bad friend."

"Uh huh. And were you blushing back then the way you are now?" Terra said, a rather immature smirk on his face as Aqua's expression confirmed his suspicions. "Do you think I should go let Ven know that he's a total stud, getting not one but two hot older ladies who are totally into him?"

Aqua then summoned her keyblade, putting it right to Terra's neck. "This is serious Terra."

"Okay, okay, just had to get that out there." Terra ceased smiling, assumed his usually serious expression. "But if this is serious, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell Ven what you did, or do I have to?"

Aqua put down her keyblade and looked up into Terra's eyes. "He asked me to see him again tonight, so I'll tell him then."

* * *

"Hey, are you okay?" Ven said as he saw the mysterious armored woman approach. "Did something happen to you today?" There was something about her posture that spoke to Ven, told him that she was nervous, worried. "Or, is it because of me?"

Immediately she shook her head, still silent. "Oh. Well, I wouldn't have blamed you if it had been me; today, I asked my master, Master Eraqus, when I'd be able to go on a mission with Terra and Aqua. He said that when I was strong enough he'd let me, and I asked him when that would be, and if I could get there sooner if I trained even harder, and he said that trying to rush through my training wouldn't help, I just needed to accept that I wasn't ready yet." Ven was feeling rather downcast at this point.

"I just hope that Aqua doesn't feel the same way, that she doesn't think I'm too weak for her…" Ven sputtered a moment as his face turned red. "I mean, too weak to go on missions with her!" He tried to laugh, but even he could hear how fake it sounded. "It's weird, but ever since yesterday, when Aqua left for her first mission, I've been thinking about her a lot more than I did before…but to tell the truth, I've always been thinking about her, as far back as I can remember. Which isn't all that far back…" Ven paused, wondering at himself, and the woman he was talking to; what was it about her that made it so easy to talk to her? When he looked at her, she seemed to just radiate understanding and compassion.

"She's just really important to me, so I want to be able to be there for her wherever she goes."

The armored woman hugged him, and it felt so comfortable, even through her cold hard armor…

"Don't worry Ven, you're always there for me."

Ven was stunned into silence, his eyes as wide as saucers, and he stared as the woman took off her helmet, revealing that she was Aqua. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner Ven. I guess part of me wanted to know what you were thinking when you didn't know it was me." Her face was so red, Ven knew she was telling the truth, but he wasn't thinking about that.

"I, what I said…" Ven went over everything he told her, thinking about how she would have taken it, and then he began to realize that that was the only way she could have taken it.

"It's okay Ven, I talked with Terra earlier today, and we both agreed that I needed to talk to you about this."

"You talked to Terra? About what I told you?" She nodded. Faced with the sheer humiliation of this predicament, Ven panicked, and ran for his room, chiding himself the whole way back.

Aqua stood alone, wondering how in the world she was going to fix this, and what would happen to them both afterwards.


	3. Chapter 3

Armored Confessions, Chapter Three

* * *

"I should have known he wouldn't come." Aqua said to herself as she wistfully skipped a rock on the pond. She hadn't been able to focus all day, and whenever she ran into Ven, he quickly made an excuse and went somewhere else. She couldn't really blame him for that; after all, he'd confessed to her without realizing it was her, or even that he had confessed. He was such a pure hearted boy, and she'd always cared for him very strongly for that, but she never thought that their feelings for each other would take this shape. She couldn't be sure about Ven, but Aqua knew that her feelings for Ven had always been exceptionally strong; after all, one of her happiest memories was seeing Ven wake up for the first time after his arrival at the Land of Departure, and she hardly even knew him. And in actually getting to know him, in seeing that bright and optimistic boy emerge from the sorrow of his amnesia, those feelings only grew stronger. And when she found him sitting here, all by himself, looking so sad and worried again, what did she do?

"Aqua." Ven's voice shook her up, and she almost fell down into her namesake as she watched Ven slowly approach her. He had such a stern, serious expression on his face, an expression that was as un-ven as it could get. She stood up, and he stood before her, head bowed in supplication. "I'm sorry Aqua about my behavior last night. I wasn't mad at you, I was mad at me. I was so immature, I didn't even realize what I was saying to you, and when I did, I realized how stupid I must have looked to you, like some stupid kid who's got a crush on their teacher or babysitter or something like that."

"Ven." Aqua put her hand under Ven's chin, and lifted his face up so that he'd be looking her in the eye. "Do you really think I'd look down on you like that?"

"Well, you said you'd told Terra, and he thought that you needed to talk to me, to let me down easy…" Ven's voice drifted as a smile crept onto Aqua's face.

"Are you kidding? He wanted to tell you that you were a total stud!" With that, all tension was gone, and the two young keyblade wielders laughed as they dropped to the ground, looking up at the starry sky side by side. "Ven," Aqua said as she turned her head to Ven, and he did the same in turn. "Maybe it was stupid of me, but the reason I didn't say anything while I was in my armor was because I wanted to know what you were really thinking. What you think, and how you feel really matters to me."

"So…you don't think I'm just some dumb kid who's way out of his league?" Ven said, feeling hopeful for the first time all day.

"Never. Right from the very moment I met you, I knew you were someone really special, and if I'd been a little more mature, I'd have known why."

"Really?" Ven raised an eyebrow. "You thought I was your special someone when I could barely say my own name?" Ven laughed as Aqua blushed.

"Oh, you know that wasn't what I meant!" She shoved at him, causing him to roll over onto his face, and she laughed as he spat out a blade of grass that got caught in his mouth.

"So, what now?" Ven said, his expression somewhat pensive. "I mean, what do we tell Master Eraqus?"

"We tell him what we're going to tell Terra, that we're together." Aqua saw the bemused look on Ven's face, and ran her hand through his hair. "Come on, it's not like there's any rule that says Keyblade Apprentices or Masters can't fall in love, and even if there was, what makes you think I'd pay any attention to it?"

"Really?" Ven said with a cocky smirk. "Honor student Aqua would break the rules just to be in a relationship with her younger, shorter friend?"

"Hey!" Aqua said with faux-hurt in her voice. "Just because I'm studious doesn't mean I'm a total goody-goody."

"Prove it." Ven said, his declaration standing on its on.

"Fine." Aqua stood up, tapped the bit of metal on her shoulder, and summoned her armor. She then summoned her Keyblade and tossed it into the air, transforming it into her Keyblade Glider. "The Lanes Between are a bit too dangerous for me to take you all the way to another world before you've gotten your armor, but I'm sure we can slip in and out of the Land of Departure before anything could happen. And yes, even that much is against the rules."

"Really?" He stared, mouth hanging open. "You, you'd do that for me?" Ven was shocked, amazed even, at how far Aqua was willing to go just to show him what she'd do for him. But as he looked at Aqua's rather elaborate Keyblade Glider, he became uncertain. "Um, where do I stand?"

"Oh." Aqua looked about herself, realizing that she hadn't actually thought about that at all. Still, she came to a quick decision, not wanting to lose the rush of the moment. "Just stand right behind me, and hold on tight."

Ven blushed a bit, but did as he was told, wrapping his arms around Aqua's waist, clad as it was in cold hard steel. As she took off into the sky, approaching the Lane Between that connected their world to all others, Ven's grip grew tighter.

Aqua could feel her face heat up as it turned red, and she knew that it was not from the cold of the altitude they'd reached.


End file.
